WOODY WOODMANSEY

DURING HIS FIFTY YEARS IN MUSIC, MANY NOTABLE CHARACTERS HAVE ORBITED THE WORK OF DAVID BOWIE. AND THERE ARE A SELECT FEW WHO ARE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THE STORY – CENTRAL FIGURES WHO HAVE HAD A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON HIS CREATIVITY; WHOSE NAMES, WHEN MENTIONED, EVOKE A PARTICULAR MAGIC…

Woody Woodmansey has a truly privileged perspective on Bowie’s ascent to global fame – and on what that fame began to do to him. As drummer in white-hot back-up band The Spiders From Mars, with fellow Yorkshiremen Trevor Bolder (on bass) and peerless guitarist Mick Ronson, Woodmansey was right there in the eye of the cosmic storm during Bowie’s years as Ziggy Stardust. He performed on a run of essential albums – THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD (1970), HUNKY DORY (1971), THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1972) and ALADDIN SANE (1973) – before Bowie unexpectedly called time on the band, on stage during the final night of their 1973 tour.

Woodmansey’s live debut with Bowie had been three years earlier, in Scarborough on 21st May 1970. Making an emotional return to his roots in nearby Hull, for a Christmas 2014 show with Bowie-focused touring collective Holy Holy (his first gig in the city for many years), Woodmansey met with The Mouth Magazine to record this fascinating new edition of The Mouthcast. He recalls his first impressions of The Spiders From Mars’ talismanic frontman, and offers an insight into the era when classic songs seemed to tumble out of him. He reflects on how – overworked, increasingly isolated by success and locked in his starman character – the songwriter became impossible to talk to. He also chats about Holy Holy, which features Tony Visconti and Lisa Ronson amongst others with their own Bowie connections.

Further DAVID BOWIE coverage at THE MOUTH MAGAZINE;
An interview with PETER DOGGETT, author of DAVID BOWIE AND THE 1970S, here
An interview with ZIGGYOLOGY author SIMON GODDARDhere
The Mouthcast featuring Bowie’s current Musical Director GERRY LEONARDhereOur review of 2013 comeback album THE NEXT DAYhereThe DAVID BOWIE IS… exhibition at the V&A in London, hereDYLAN HOWE on SUBTERRANEAN, his album of Bowie interpretations, here and here